Business services refer to the activities that benefit a company without delivering a physical commodity. These include information technology, which assists numerous other business services like procurement, finance and shipping.
These businesses are critical to a country’s economic growth. They help businesses achieve their goals, improve the relationship between manufacturers and customers, and increase efficiency.
Unlike goods, which can be stored for future use, services must be delivered when they are needed. This is why they are intangible, meaning that they can’t be touched or physically seen.
Intangible Service Characteristics
Business services have five main characteristics: they do not have a physical form, are inconsistent and inseparable, require exclusive performance each time, and cannot be stored for future use.
Intangible Goods
The foundation of any business is money. The inflow should always be higher than the outflow, to ensure profitability. The intangible goods, such as information technology and business services, are necessary to help a business meet its goals, reach new markets, and improve its profitability.
They are also important for a company’s internal functions, helping them to focus on their strategic-based internal goals while outsourcing tasks that don’t fall within their expertise. In turn, they allow a company to hire internal employees for these specific internal tasks and employ business service professionals to complete the work that requires special expertise or equipment.
The service industry represents a large segment of the commercial world and is an important part of many economies around the globe. It can be a very rewarding career, offering a variety of opportunities and challenges.